Multiple switch-board for telephone-exchanges



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. A. SEELY. MULTIPLE SWITCH BOARD FOR TELEPHONE EXCHANGES.

No. 330.067 Patented Nov. 10, 1885.

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J. A. SEELY.

MULTIPLE SWITCH BOARD FOR TELEPHONE EXCHANGES. No. 330,067.

Patented Nov. 10, 1885.

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PATENT JOHN A. SEELY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MULTIPLE SWITCH-BOARD FOR TELEPHONE-EXCHANGES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 330,067, dated November 10, 1885.

Application filed March 28, 1885. Serial No. 160,424.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN A. SEELY, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of-New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Grouping Spring- Jacks and Annunciators for Multiple Switch- Boards, of which the following is afull, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to multiple switchboards of a telephoneexchange; and it consists in distributing the calling-annunciators of the different subscribers in uniform groups upon the different boards, and in providing extra sets of switches or spring-jacks for each group of annunciators, so that when an annunciator is thrown down a spring-jack in the line may be found always within easy reach and in a given position with respect to the said annunciator. An operator answering the calls of any particular group or groups of annunciators may thus always find at once the answering'springjack of a subscriber who has sent in a call. Since the groups of annunciators and their corresponding sets of answering spring-jacks are all arranged in the same positions relatively to one anotherupon all the boards,an operator accustomed to work at one board can work at any other board just as well, so that the operators may be transferred from one board to another from time to time as may be desired.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of a portion of a multiple switch-board illustrative of my invention. Fig. 2 is a front view of the same, the upper portion thereof, which carries the connecting-cords and plugs, being broken away. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing partial sectional views of three multiple switch-boards, with the circuits of two telephone-lines connected therewith, an additional or extra spring-jack being placed in the circuit of each of said lines.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, each section, 1, 2 3 4, 8150., upon the switch-board may contain one hundred spring-jack switches. Thus the board, when full, would contain switches or terminal connections for twelve hundred telephone-lines. The individual annunciators are (No model.)

placed on the lower part of the board and grouped in sections of twenty-five. Thus each section a a a a a a on each board may contain twenty-five individual-annunciators and five clearing-out annunciators, as shown in sections a a of Fig. 1. Ipreferably place the clearing-out annunciators in a row on the lower part of each section, so that each section contains twenty-five individual or subscribers drops, as shownin sections a a of Fig. 1. Eight such boards ordinarily will afford facilities for making the connections and disconnections between twelve hundred telephone-lines.

In Fig. 3 of the drawings the circuit of telephone-line d may be traced through the ordinary spring-jacks o f g on each of the boards, and thence through the additional spring-jack h on one of the boards, and thence through the annunciator i to ground. circuit of telepone-line It may be traced through spring-jacks lm n on the different boards, and from the spring-jack n to the additional or extra spring-jack 0 on one of the boards, and thence through an annunciator, p, to ground that is to say, as shown in the drawings, an individual annunciator is provided for each telephone-line and a spring-jack on each of the boards for each line in the ordinary manner, and in addition extra spring-jacks are provided for the difierent lines, said extra spring-jacks being arranged in groups 12'!) b 800., to correspond to the individual annunciators on the different boards. There will thus be a switch in each line on each board, an individual annunciator in each line at one of the boards, and an extra spring-jack in each line placed near the individual annunciator of the line, the extra springjacks of the different groups of annunciators being placed preferably in the same relative positions, respectively, to their corresponding annunciators upon the different boards.

As is well known in multiple-switchboard systems of telephone-exchange the subscribers are divided, usually, into as many groups as there are switch-boards. Thus, in case there are twelve hundred subscribers and eight boards, the calls for connections of subscribers whose lines are numbered from 1 to 150 would be answered at the first board, for

In like manner the example. The calls of the next group of one hundred and fifty would be answered at the second board, and so on. The calls of the subscribers whose lines are numbered from 1050 to 1200 would be assigned to the last board, or board No. 8. When a subscriber sends current to his telepone-line and throws down his shutter, the switchman at the board where the shutter is placed inserts a plug in the spring-jack of his line, and thus places himself in telephonic communication with the said calling subscriber. This I term the initial connection. The calling subscriber is the one who has thus sent in a signal 'to the central offie. After theinitial connection is made, the calling subscriber tells the operator what other subscriber he wants to talk with. v The subscriber thus asked for is usually spoken of as the called subscriber. The operator having received the order of the calling subscriber, signals the subscriber wanted and makes the necessary connections.

The great advantage of multiple-switchboard systems over all other systems is due principally to the fact that the operators at the different boards do their work independently of one anotherthat is to say, the operator, we will say at board 1, is able to connect any one of the one hundred and fifty lines assigned to him with any other of the said one hundred and fifty lines, or, in short, with any other of the twelve hundred lines belon ing to the exchange.

There are various test systems in useby which an operator can determine whether the line of a subscriber called for is busy or connected at another board. These test systems form no part of my invention, and require therefore no further description. In order, however, that the state of the art may be understood, the following United States Letters Patent are cited: No. 252,576, granted Leroy B. Firman, January 17, 1882; No. 308,315, granted Milo G. Kellogg, November 18, 1884; No. 305,021, granted Charles E. Scribnenseptember 9, 1884.

Suppose a shutter, 1, of section a falls. (See Figs. 1 and 2.) The attendant will at once insert a plug, 0, of a pair of cords in the spring- 0 jack 1 of group 1), corresponding to group a.

The same operation takes place with respect to the initial connection with any line when its shutter falls, no matter upon which board the shutter of the line may be placed.

As shown in Fig. 3, lines at and 7c are connected by apair of cords and plugs at the first board. The manner of making this connection may be stated briefly, as follows: The subscriber wanting a connection sends current over his line (I, and the switchman at board 1, seeing shutter *6 fall, at once makes the initial connection by inserting plug q in springjack h, and at the same time throwing down the cam-lever r, thus bringing his telephone into the circuit of telephone line (1. The switchman is thus brought into telephonic communication with the calling subscriber and. is told' what connection is wanted. We will suppose thatthe calling subscriber asks for connection with line It. The switchman will at once insert the other plug of the pain-that is to say, plug sin spring-jackl of line 70, as shown, and by depressing keyt send current over line 70, thus ringing up the called subscriber. The two lines is and d are thus connected and the switchman restores lever r to the position shown and isready to attend to the next call. Suppose now that subscriber connected with line It had wanted connection with line d. The switching would be done upon the second boardthat is, upon the board upon which is placed the extra spring-jack 0 and the annunciator p in the circuit of said line 75. The initial connection would be made with spring-jack 0, while the final connection would be made with springjack f. The extra spring-jack h and the individual annunciator t should be placed upon the first board in the same positions relatively as are placed the spring-jack 0 and individual annunciator 12 upon the second board. In an exchange of twelve hundred subscribers and eight multiple boards, for example, each board would contain, beside the twelve hundred spring-jacks heretofore used, onehundred and.

fifty extra or additional spring-jacks b b 12 as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, but it will be readily understood by reference to Fig. 3 that the extra spring-jacks on the different boards do not belong to the same telephonelines. Thus the extra spring-jack h of line d is placed upon the first board, while extra springjack 0 of line is placed upon the second board; but, as before stated, spring-jack h and annunciator i of the first board may be placed relatively in the same positions as springjack 0 and, annunciator p, and in like manner a large numberfor example, one hundred and fifty spring-jacks h on one board and one hundred and fifty spring-jacks 0 upon another boardmay be placed relatively in the same positions with respect to their individual annunciators.

The spring-j acks for the connection with the calling subscribers preferably are placed in sections or groups distributed in the same line across the board, as shown. When a large number of lines are connected upon the same IIO board, the cords will not become tangled,since upon the face of the board, as heretofore.

Ielaim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a multiple -switch-board system in which, the individual annunciators are distributed in groups upon the different boards, switches for all the lines on each of the boards, and, in addition thereto, sets or groups of switches on the different boards corresponding to the different groups of individual annunciators, each group of annunciators and its corresponding group of switches being placed relatively to each other in the same position on each of the boards, whereby the manner of answering the subscribers is made uniform upon all the boards.

2. In a multiple-switch board system, a spring-jack switch on each board for each line, and additional spring-jack switches, one in each line, for the initial connection, said additional spring-jack switches being distributed on the different boards in uniform groups, and the individual annunciators of the different lines arranged in corresponding groups, sub stantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. In a multiple-switch board system, a spring-jack switch on each board for each line,

JOHN A. SEELY.

Witnesses:

EDWARD W. BOSTWICK, THOS. NESBITT. 

